Kate Beckinsale

"I'm so fascinated by breasts because my mother didn't have them either. If I had them, I'd run up and down flights of stairs!" -Kate Beckinsale

Most people with a pulse know who Kate Beckinsale is and those who do are probably struggling to control it on a regular basis, given that she is among the most beautiful women in the world. While she reigns supreme as one of the planet's most perfect creations, Kate Beckinsale is an actress by trade who is well-known for her roles in summer blockbusters like Pearl Harbor, action-horror flicks like Underworld and Van Helsing and Oscar fare like The Aviator. Lately she's chased crazed killers across Antarctica in the crime-minded Whiteout and played daughter to Robert De Niro in the sappy drama, Everybody's Fine.

SEX APPEAL

If there are any men who don't find Kate Beckinsale attractive, we have yet to meet them. The Sexiest Woman of 2009 according to Esquire and a regular on AskMen.com's Top 99 Women lists -- she was No. 3 in 2010 and made regular appearances in 2009 and 2008 -- this British bombshell is the dream date for many men and the envy of many other women. Her long, flowing dark hair is complemented by striking hazel eyes and full lips, and her figure is a mix of legs you could get lost in and very athletic curves. Clearly, Ms. Beckinsale realizes she is something special and isn't afraid to tease audiences with near-revealing shower scenes (Whiteout) and tight-fitting garments (the Underworld movies). So what does this near-perfect woman think she's missing? Well, her ideal body-switch partner is apparently Queen Latifah, because the crowned one has the bust that Kate Beckinsale believes she's missing. Somehow we've been too busy noticing how much is right about her than to spot any problem areas.

On the dating front, Kate Beckinsale was previously linked to actor Edmund Moriarty before famously coupling up with another actor, Michael Sheen, from 1995 until 2003. Their relationship ended when -- wouldn't you know it -- she left him for filmmaker Len Wiseman, who had been busy directing the couple on the set of Underworld. Now married, Kate Beckinsale and Len Wiseman are solid as a rock with a daughter and incredibly, Michael Sheen can talk to and work with both of them without sobbing.

SUCCESS

When Charlize Theron dropped out of a planned role in 2001's Pearl Harbor, Kate Beckinsale stepped in and her star was born. Having sharpened up her acting chops in British films like Shooting Fish and lesser-known American fare such as Brokedown Palace and The Last Days of Disco, it was her role as a nurse that made her a familiar face and had most of the male population wanting a taste of her bedside manner. Since that time, Kate Beckinsale's signature role has been the vampire Selene in a pair of Underworld movies with a rumored 3-D installment waiting in the wings.

Kate Beckinsale's incredible good looks have made her easy fodder for playing romantic love interests (Serendipity) and classic damsels (Van Helsing), but her athleticism and tough demeanor have made her an action hero of late -- both in the Underworld films and recent efforts like Whiteout. An actress who tries to seek out roles that emphasize the human qualities of women rather than the sexual ones, Kate Beckinsale has had a chance to stretch her acting talents in more dramatic directions for challenging fare like The Aviator and the recent family drama, Everybody's Fine.

Kate Beckinsale Biography

Kate Beckinsale had acting in the blood, given that she was the offspring of the late British comedian Richard Beckinsale and his actress wife Judy Loe. As a teenager, she was enrolled at London's all-female Godolphin and Latymer School and won a pair of writing contests for her astute skills in poetry and short story writing. Nevertheless, she had a rebellious streak that came out in funny ways -- like a first-place finish at the Youth's Burp for Fame contest -- and in more serious ways like regular smoking and a bout with anorexia.

Once she gained control of her demons, Kate Beckinsale decided to move forward with acting while in the midst of her Russian and French literature studies at Oxford University. Small roles in a string of television movies, starting with One Against the Wind in 1991, eventually led to her feature film debut as Hero in Kenneth Branagh's 1993 Shakespearean effort, Much Ado About Nothing. Kate Beckinsale would follow it up with a role opposite a young Christian Bale in Prince of Jutland a year later and the lead role of Emma Woodhouse in the Emmy-winning Emma in 1996. Following a turn as the socialite partner in crime to Chloe Sevigny in 1998's The Last Days of Disco, Kate Beckinsale landed a lead role opposite Claire Danes in the intense Thailand tourist drama, Brokedown Palace. The film was a box-office disappointment, but it marked a smooth transition for Kate Beckinsale from small-scale independent films and British dramas into full-blown Hollywood fare.

Kate Beckinsale in Pearl Harbor and Underworld

In 2001, Kate Beckinsale broke into the ranks of blockbusters with the lead female role of Evelyn Johnson in Michael Bay's action tearjerker (who knew there was such a thing?), Pearl Harbor. As a heroic nurse, she got to romance both Josh Hartnett and Ben Affleck while recreating one of the darkest moments of American history. Though Kate Beckinsale and her two male costars had a shared Razzie Award nomination for Worst On-Screen Couple, the film was one of the year's biggest hits and the actress did earn an MTV Movie Awards nomination for Best Female Performance.

After reteaming with Christian Bale to play his beautiful but cold companion in the L.A. drama, Laurel Canyon, Kate Beckinsale embodied the most memorable role of her young career in Underworld -- playing Selene, a vampire with a penchant for tight leather outfits and a forbidden attraction to a werewolf. The film was a cult favorite and led its leading lady straight into the arms of Hugh Jackman for another mix of action and chills in 2004's summer extravaganza, Van Helsing. Just when audiences and critics had her pegged as a purely mainstream actress, Kate Beckinsale surprised many with her sharp turn as screen legend Ava Gardner in Martin Scorsese's look at Howard Hughes (via Leonardo DiCaprio) in the Oscar contender, The Aviator.

Kate Beckinsale in Whiteout and Everybody's fine

2006 marked Kate Beckinsale's next adventure as Selene for the inevitable sequel, Underworld: Evolution, which was a hot ticket at the box office and a solid career move. Next up was Click, a comedy that had the beauty playing the confused wife of Adam Sandler as he uses a remote control to skip through the key events of his adult life. Kate Beckinsale ventured back to the horror realm as a wife trapped in a seedy hotel room with her equally afraid husband, Luke Wilson, in 2007's Vacancy.

Having grown accustomed to action-heavy (and not always acting-heavy) films in recent years, Kate Beckinsale took a step toward developing her talents with a pair of smaller-scale efforts in 2008. The first was Winged Creatures featuring Sam Rockwell and the second was Nothing But the Truth, which cast Kate Beckinsale as a journalist threatened with jail time after leaking the identity of a CIA agent. The story was inspired by the real-life Valerie Plame scandal. In 2009, Kate Beckinsale returned to the studio system to play a U.S. Marshal chasing a killer in Antarctica in Whiteout and the daughter of recent widower Robert De Niro in Everybody's Fine. After being named the Sexiest Woman Alive by Esquire that same year, Kate Beckinsale was rumored to be appearing in 2011's Underworld3-D, which is set to be directed by her husband, Len Wiseman.